Dear Bing: What Are You Waiting For?

by Jon Cooper

This last Thursday night I decided to tune into #seochat, a week after I was featured on it (it was quite an honor; here’s the recap!). Duane Forrester, who manages Bing Webmaster Tools, was the guy answering questions this time around. Even though I didn’t realize it beforehand, I saw this as my opportunity to ask for a Bing replacement of Yahoo Site Explorer.

But since I was so used to a search engine disregarding any type of request I might have, I went on my way, listening to the great guys on #seochat and hoping Duane would at least address my question.

But more importantly, as I was sitting there smiling like a little boy having his first taste of ice cream, I realized something far greater at play.

What the hell is Bing waiting for?

It’s time for Bing to make their move

ResentmentofGoogle is older than dirt. Well, at least that’s how it feels. With search results like this, it’s hard to figure out why. But the unfortunate part is that Google is honestly getting away with it. And deep down, once you bypass all of our futuristic talks of “Google isn’t going to last with crap like this”, we know they’re getting away with it.

And yet, Google’s main competition is sitting, waiting quietly, almost too quietly. And it’s time for that to change. The time for Bing to take advantage of a company once driven by innovation but now driven by Wall Street investors is now.

How Bing should make their move

Honestly, Bing doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Just look at how Google climbed to the top. Google’s two characteristics that catapulted them into a world of success were:

1. Better search results
2. Putting publishers first

Now, Bing isn’t going to have better search results (I’m sorry; Google has great results, but let me finish), but they can do two things to not have crappy results:

1. Not having a ton of paid ads
2. Not overdoing social integrated results (SPYW)

At the same time, they can also start serving publishers that are desperate to be treated right. The outcries over [Not Provided] and the penalization process (goes back to negative SEO) are just a couple examples of what not to do.

Going off of what I started this post with, Bing should get their act together on a Site Explorer. That was Yahoo’s best asset for publishers. Yahoo probably wouldn’t have made it as far as they did if they hadn’t created it. Since Google is stingy about this topic and not willing to budge, this is Bing’s chance to set themselves apart, because honestly, so far they haven’t done a great job of that.

But why should Bing treat publishers right?

Because if publishers lead the way, everyone else will follow.

So what are they waiting for?

Who knows, but what ever battle they’re fighting, I don’t see them winning without first serving to publishers. Sure, I could just be saying this because I’m hoping somewhere, somehow, a Bing executive is reading this, agreeing with it, and adding some added features for publishers as a result, but honestly, think about it. Just look at the wide range of products for publishers that Google’s created. Analytics & Webmaster Tools are the two best that come to mind. Can you honestly sit here and say that those two weren’t at least partly responsible for their rise to fame?

Luckily, though, Bing’s making strides. I just wish we saw more progress in a time of when Google’s vulnerability was loud & clear. Who knows? Maybe Bing isn’t the Google killer some are hoping it to be. Maybe it’s another search engine out there (Blekko FTW!). Regardless, I think it’s time that Google starts to suffer for their neglect of both searchers and publishers, and it’s only a matter of time before a search engine like Bing to take advantage.

I would love to see Bing and Blekko risen up and Google burn in history , although Google provides really nice search results , it deviated from the path it was supposed to take. Better yet I hope Google comes to their senses.

It would be awesome to see a new dawn. I think many of us are jaded at this point. I would love to see a quirky altruist invest tons of money into a fantastic engine, one that is like what Google promised. I would love to see someone use the insight of people in the search industry to help make something truly educationally resourceful and void of commercial trash, which has made G left wanting. My deepest trust lies with those in the industry; those who use engines all the time and IMO are most deserved of a voice and critique.

I don’t really care if Bing wins the battle against Google, I just want Google to start feeling the heat of competition. Once Bing becomes real competition, and I mean REAL competition, to Google, the big G will have no choice but to start treating people right, or people will inevitably jump ship.

I agree with all of the above. The only problem is Google is dominating search and providing good results. That’s what most people use it for. They don’t care about the other side of the coin that we’re on. As long as people are happy withthe serach results, Google will remain all mighty.

There will come a tipping point for Google. DEC, Novell, and a host of others have flamed out from monopoly positions simply from the resentment fostered by their hubris. I see G as doing a slow motion self destruct right now. SEO’s are like Google channel partners. Once you lose the channel, you are lost (or at least that is how it used to be). I’m starting to explore Bing and may advise some clients to start Advertising there as well as spending more of my time to see how I can ad value (organic SEO) on Bing for my customers.

Thanks Kristinn, I feel the same way. There days are now numbered. It’s just tough because I feel like we’ve been saying this for the last 12-18 months, and almost nothing has come out of their competition. I just want to see some progress against them.

It was reported that an Ex-Googler is working on the Facebook Search Engine, and this is just my opinion, but I don’t think Bing one of Facebook’s bigger investors/advertisers would be happy to have a competitive product, when they full well could just integrate.

I don’t think they’re being too quiet… I think they’re just letting Google wear themselves out before they deliver a series of game changing blows.

I really hope so Tommy, but it’s scary knowing just how many bright minds work at Google, and that even if they make a mistake in the short run, it’s hard to completely extinguish them; that’s why I just want to see some healthy competition to keep them in check.

I don’t want google to completely fall down or bing to reach the summit, because if both of them happens then surely they will not bother about the publishers and advertisers. All I want is a balance between in the search engine market which I hope will happen in the next few years.

I would like to see a bunch of other SEs give Google a run for their money. But, seriously, they have to return valid results if I’m going to use them. Bing, for one, returns millions and millions of results . .. and who cares? If the top ones aren’t really close to what I wanted, I click back over the google and try again.

I also agree that Bing should make their first big step. Although Google is so difficult to defeat, nothing is impossible in this world. Maybe who knows, in the next 3 years we’ll start saying “Bing it” rather than “Google it” (Bing it honestly sounds funnier, now that I say it).

I would love to see a bigger improvement of bing. Especially in my country (italy) it’s around 1% usage and I think that in this moment (panda, then penguin) they should do a great seo favor to the community improving their quality.